An electric power converter such as an inverter mounted on an electric vehicle or a hybrid vehicle or the like, for example, is configured to perform power conversion between direct current power and alternating current power by turning on and off a plurality of switching devices.
In a switching circuit of such an electric power converter, a surge voltage is generated due to inductance parasitic on the circuit along with an on-off operation of the switching device.
In order to suppress the surge voltage from being generated, a technique of reducing the parasitic inductance is proposed.
A structure of disposing connecting portions of respective positive electrode and the negative electrode (hereinafter, referred to as a positive electrode terminal and a negative electrode terminal, respectively) externally to positions opposing a connecting portion of an output electrode (hereinafter, referred to as an output terminal) externally in parallel in a state of being adjacent to each other is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2008-306872.
With such a configuration, circulating magnetic fluxes that are generated around various parts of a current route are in a state of canceling each other so that the parasitic inductance of the circuit is suppressed from being generated.
However, in the above configuration, it is necessary to provide sufficient spaces between the positive electrode terminal and the output terminal, and between the negative electrode terminal and the output terminal, respectively.
That is, it is necessary to keep sufficient distances between the positive electrode terminal and the output terminal, and between the negative electrode terminal and the output terminal in order to achieve sufficient electrical insulations.
However, a problem that is difficult to obtain the effect of reducing the parasitic inductance is likely to occur.
Further, when positional relationships between the positive electrode terminal, the negative electrode terminal, and the output terminal are defined in predetermined positional relationships, the wiring flexibility may be decreased.